Leviathan is a book series (and the first book in the series) by Scott Westerfeld that takes place in an alternate version of World War I Europe. Some of the differences are that Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife are assassinated in the evening, as opposed to the afternoon, they have only one son... Oh, and Germans and Austrians use giant Walkers to fight the British and French Fabricated Animals. Obviously, he took liberties with history.

In this version of history, when Charles Darwin came up with the theory of evolution, he also discovered the 'threads of life', or DNA - and, more importantly, how to manipulate them and construct new creatures. Fast forward 50 years, and you find London crawling with fabricated elephants and giant oxen instead of cars, and gecko/parrot hybrids are used to send messages.

The series follows two characters - the Archduke's son, Prince Aleksandr, who is whisked off on the night of his parents' assassination to a secret hideaway in the Alps before his enemies can assassinate him. The second character is a girl, Deryn Sharp, who poses as a boy in order to join the British Air Service and eventually finds herself aboard the Leviathan, a massive Flying WhaleAirship that is bound for the Ottoman Empire with one Dr. Nora Barlow, a Boffinnote a scientist, in this case somebody who makes Fabricated Animals and her very secretive cargo. As a war between the fabricated Animal using "Darwinists" (not like that) and Walker-using "Clankers" looms, Alek soon finds himself aboard the Leviathan as his enemies close in.

A second book, Behemoth, was released October 5, 2010. The last book in the trilogy, Goliath, was released on September 20th, 2011. Westerfeld also wrote a bonus "fanfiction" chapter on his blog and commissioned a new piece of art for Christmas 2011. Finally, a companion book titled The Manual of Aeronautics, featuring full-colour illustrations of the creatures and machines from the series (and several that weren't), was published in 2012.

Alternate History: Armored vehicles pre-1916, the Archduke having only one child, the Archduke being assassinated at night, Darwin discovering genetics and DNA, etc.

The ending of the series distances it even further from our timeline: the War ends on fairly amiable and equal terms instead of a Treaty of Versailles analogue (although the US still ends up joining the Darwinists). The Russian Revolution never happens, Austria-Hungary seems to have all but usurped Germany as head of the Clanker nations, Britannia still rules the waves and the odds of a parallel World War II happening are pretty slim. Although the Ottomans are mentioned as having undergone a revolt and there remains concern with the Japanese.

Ambiguous Situation: The nature of Tesla's Goliath device, which the entire plot of the third book revolves around, is never revealed. It is implied to be an extremely powerful magnetic device weaponizing comets and meteors, but the characters refuse to cede that much credit to Tesla. Likewise, most characters instead believe Tesla was insane and his Goliath device completely bunk. The fact of the matter is that The Tunguska Event happened right after Tesla tested the device and that the sky over England changed colors when he tested it again later. No hard evidence is put forth regarding whether those were atmospheric coincidences that Tesla shamelessly took credit for in his madness, or legitimate results of his experimentation. Because Tesla was killed and his device destroyed, those answers are forever lost In-Universe.

Artistic License – Physics: This is a given, but the series is curiously un-evenhanded about it. For some reason, whether you prefer steampunk (villainous) or biopunk (heroic) tends to arbitrarily determine how far along the morality scale you are. The machines used by the villainous Central Powers hew close to real-world physics and hydraulics, and are unwieldy and inefficient because of it. However, the Allies are able to use super-obedient, super-genetically enhanced monstrosities, who move with a grace and cleanliness and are presented without irony as superior to mechanics in every way.

The biggest discrepancy is that living creatures should be ridiculously fuel-inefficient, far more so than diesel powered engines. Nevertheless, the Allies' biggest advantage is the quantity and diversity of fabricated creatures they can draw on, while the Central Powers' wear-and-tear and reliance on fuel is repeatedly pointed out and exploited.

The upkeep required of large numbers of military-standard living animals would also be a logistical nightmare, but the fabricated creatures just keep recycling their own waste, keeping themselves clean, and remaining in their designated habitats even during crisis conditions. If applying the same level of realism that is displayed by the Clanker powers, the streets of Darwinist countries should be paved with feces.

Charles Darwin is also relegated to a sort of scientific Ubermensch, developing not only evolutionary theory, but also discovering DNA and genetic extraction, manipulation, and insertion, all under primitive microscopesnote For reference, altering gene codes requires several lengthy steps that need to occur in incubators and relatively little of the work can be done under a microscope..

On the other hand, the Clanker powers field Humongous Mecha in large numbers on the outset of the war (with all the weaponry that implies), are building functioning lightning guns by the second book (capable of destroying the Leviathan and other airbeasts in a single shot), and are shown to adapt quickly against Darwinist weaponry (kraken-fighting arms mounted on their ships, using flamethrowers to startle and chase off flechette bats). There's also the fact that mounting a couple of Clanker engines on the Leviathan makes the ship faster than its Darwinist motivator engines ever did (their unwieldiness attributed to hasty installation rather than inherent to mechaniks).

Biotech Is Better: Somehow Fabricated Beasts are almost always portrayed as better than Clankers despite the problems listed above under Artistic License Physics. A couple of times, the titular living airship takes on Clanker planes and zeppelins two-to-one and wins. Of course, it's packed with flechette bats and strafing hawks that can Zerg Rush the Clankers and breed reinforcements for the next battle.

Special mention goes to Deryn's compress after she busts up her knee. It is some kind of fabricated beast that extends its tentacles into her knee to fix torn ligaments. And if she tries to put weight on her leg it sounds and feels like she has a swarm of angry wasps in her knee. One of the few places where the description in the text is worse than the pictures.

Cannot Spit It Out: Every time Deryn comes close to admitting to Alek that she's a girl, either she cannot go on for fear that telling him the truth will upend their friendship (it does for a while after he finds out), or something conveniently ends the conversation. This behaviour is lampshaded by Alek himself.

Catch Phrase: "Barking spiders!" might as well be one for Deryn, considering how much she says it. And Bovril has "Mr. Sharp!", usually followed by giggles.

Comically Missing the Point: In Behemoth, while drinking tea, Deryn calls Volger out on feeling pleased and drinking tea from a fancy cup while Alek is left without allies while in the city of Istanbul. Volger's response is to point out that Deryn's tea cup is the fancy one. His is quite plain.

Deceased Parents Are the Best: Played straight with Deryn's da, who she adored and supported her dreams of flying. It's less the case with Alek's parents. He angsts less that Deryn does and describes them as selfish for putting their love for one another before the stability of the royal family and the empire.

Deliberate Values Dissonance: Alek is rather sexist, much to Dylan/Deryn's chagrin. After meeting Lilit, however, he's started to improve, and finding out that Deryn is a girl in Goliath also does a lot to change his mind. Subverted by Zaven, who is extremely enthusiastic about equal rights for women, but played straight in that most people think he's a Cloudcuckoolander because of it.

Eldritch Abomination: Most Clankers see fabs as "godless abominations". The Behemoth counts as well.

Evil Uncle: Alek's Granduncle, Emperor Franz Joseph, did not approve of Archduke Franz Ferdinand falling in love with Sophie Chotek, which is why they had to get a morganatic/left-handed marriage...which is why Alek isn't his father's heir.

Immediately after Deryn worries that Alek may have learned that she's a girl during fencing lessons, Alek instructs her to turn her chest to the side, so as to provide the "smallest possible target." Deryn then muses that her secret is safe.

Reverse the genders in this sentence:

"He leaned forward to kiss her. His lips were soft against hers, but they kindled something sharp and hard inside her, something that had waited impatiently all the months since this boy had come aboard."

Grow Old with Me: Alek momentarily wants Deryn to live with him in New York away from the troubles of the war.

A Handful for an Eye: Deryn takes down the Dauntless' hijackers by throwing strong spices in their faces, incapacitating them via Sensory Overload. It's also how they take down the sultan's walkers at the climax of the book.

Hands-On Approach: Alek giving Deryn fencing lessons. She gets a bit flustered, but he thinks nothing of it since he doesn't know she's a girl.

Harmony Versus Discipline: Played completely straight in the series. The Darwinists represent Harmony, harnessing nature for war and having a generally more organic aesthetic about them. The Clankers on the other hand represent Discipline, manufacturing whatever they use, with an aesthetic characterised by angularity and general disregard for nature. In fact, the two main characters themselves embody this conflict very neatly. Deryn is very obviously set up as the harmonious one, defying Victorian social conventions (a very Discipline-esque system) by disguising herself as a boy and entering the British Air Service. As a person, she shows little inhibition and respect. Alek, who was raised surrounded by rules, obligations and restrictions, is almost exaggeratedly disciplined: controlled, virtuous and very formal, but unable to adapt and with a certain belief that everything must be planned and predictable.

Historical Villain Upgrade: The Orient Express. Not only is it actually used to ship parts for their Tesla cannon, but it was built with Clanker technology, and so it has giant robot arms.

Holding Hands: Dery and Alek throughout Goliath, with varying degrees of romantic subtext.

Honour Before Reason: The main reason Clanker warmachines are mechs rather than tanks. Alek finds the idea of them using wheels or treads ridiculous, since they're weapons, not farm equipment (which is pretty funny, since IRL tanks started out as caterpillar-treaded tractors with guns and armor plating slapped on), despite the logistics and mechanics of wheels being far simpler and easier to deal with than walking armatures.

Humiliating Wager: In the bonus chapter, Deryn and Alek arm wrestle with whoever loses having to go to the Zoological Society's New Year's Eve party dressed as a girl.

Humongous Mecha: The Germans and Austrians favor Walking Tanks while the Ottomans and their various subjects use walkers modeled after animals or beings from mythology.

Idiot Ball: Alek and Deryn discussing her identity at length with nothing but a hastily-constructed tent to ensure their privacy. In a ravine full of cameras and reporters.

I Kiss Your Hand: Alek to Adela Rogers, by her demand. She teases him for not making contact with her skin. Deryn also jokes about it during her goodbye to Alek in New York, but it doesn't actually happen.

Improvised Zipline: Deryn is up in a scouting balloon and sees Alek's "family" coming to the shipwreck looking for him in their Stormwalker. The message lizard won't get down the cable in time, so she slings a leather strap over the tether and zips down to camp. It is noted that the odds of one surviving this sort of escape are against you.

It Can Think: Though never explicitly revealed, by the end of Goliath it's implied that the perspicacious lorises are capable of thinking and learning, and are in fact just as intelligent as humans.

To a milder extent, the Leviathan. During the encounter with the Goeben in the Mediterranean, the airbeast is shown to sense that the Tesla cannon is dangerous, and causes structural damage in attempting to avoid it. Interestingly, it never does this again— even when Goliath, Tesla's attempt build a Kill Sat out of his eponymous Clanker Lightning Gun is readying to fire nearby.

It Will Never Catch On: In the bonus chapter, Alek wonders if women will ever start wearing their hair as short as Deryn's and dismisses the possibility.

Kidnapped by an Ally: Volger and Klopp tell Alek his fathers wants him to practice fleeing his home at night with the Stormwalker.

King Incognito: Alek, the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary. Although he's the result of a morganaticnote unequal in social rank marriage, Franz Ferdinand went to the Vatican and got a papal dispensation to make Alek heir, although it would only apply after the Emperor's death.

In fact, fighting-krakens are apparently common enough in the Darwinist naval forces that some of the Clanker warships are outfitted specifically to combat them, equipped with giant mechanical arms ending in scissor-like claws for severing kraken tentacles.

LEGO Genetics: The 'Darwinist' Nations can combine the DNA of species like whales and jelly fish. The eponymous Leviathan is supposedly composed of the DNA of hundreds of species, and is more of an ecosystem then a single animal.

Living Weapon: Somewhere between this and an Attack Animal with the Fabricated Animals. There are examples of the later (like the flechette bats that you feed them fruits filled with metal needles, then scare them into pooping the needles on enemies) and examples of the former (the Leviathan, an airship that is alive).

Love Triangle: Type 5: Lilit has a crush on Deryn/Dylan, who likes Alek, who thinks Lilit is attractive but can't have any real feelings for her because she's a commoner. Deryn faces the same problem, with the added stumbling block that as far as Alek knows, she's a boy.

Dr. Barlow: "What the Clankers lack in finesse they make up for in blanket ruination."

Multinational Team: The Committee for Union and Progress. They're all living in Istanbul, but individually they are Greeks, Turks, Jews, and more, and they only became united under one purpose recently in Behemoth.

Narrative Profanity Filter: Everyone seems to think Alek never curses, but when you count all the times it says, "Alek swore" or "Alek cursed softly in German," or anything like that, you can see that he's almost as bad as Deryn. Alek has also mentioned Deryn teaching him how to swear properly in English.

No Celebrities Were Harmed: Averted; all the real historical figures who appear (including Dr. Barlow, Nikola Tesla, William Randolph Hearst and Pancho Villa) or get mentioned (Emperor Joseph of Austria, Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany, Winston Churchill, etc.) are given their real names. And at least one celebrity gets most thoroughly harmed when Alek electrocutes Tesla with his own walking stick.

Non Sequitur Thud: Alek has a couple mild ones in Goliath after he bangs his head topside. But it's treated as more worrisome than funny.

Not in Front of the Parrot: Volger in particular is leery of speaking in front of messenger lizards, which are bred to be talented mimics. The perspicacious loris is even better/worse.

"Not Making This Up" Disclaimer: Played with in the afterword of each book, where Westerfeld explains that the books are based off of actual events of World War I, and elaborates on which elements are kept mostly the same and which have been altered for the sake of atmosphere.

No Periods, Period: According to Scott Westerfeld, "Women back then didn't menstruate as early, and women who pretended to be soldiers often stopped menstruating altogether. (Hard physical exercise and not a lot of food will do that.) So my guess is that she's not having any periods."

Oblivious Guilt Slinging: Alek at the end of Goliath, when Deryn is debating whether or not to tell him that Goliath didn't work.

Odd Name Out: The first two novels are named after beasts from Jewish mythology (Leviathan and Behemoth) representing sea and land respectively. The beast representing the sky, Ziz, won't be the name of the third book because it was deemed too obscure and too short. Instead, the third book will be named Goliath. Westerfeld also said on his blog that he thought 'Ziz' wasn't well known enough. Goliath was suggested by a fan. The Goliath isn't a beastie, anyway, so this trope is entirely appropriate.

Real Robot: The walkers run on finite fuel supplies, the difficulties in piloting them in varied terrain are detailed, and they are not at all easy to manage.

Recursive Crossdressing: Discussed. After Dr. Barlow proposes that Deryn join her diplomatic (that is to say, spy) organization, and after Deryn tells Dr. Barlow her big secret, Barlow jokes that Deryn could end up disguising herself as a girl. In the bonus Christmas chapter on Westerfeld's blog, Deryn does disguise herself as a girl. As does Alek.

Rule of Three: Tesla insists that all his silverware be arranged in sets of three.

Running Gag: Dummkopf! in Behemoth. In the same book, "Mr. Sharp!" is Bovril's favorite phrase, using it try to point out something (he/she/it?) is trying to explain... and poor Alek can't pick up the hint.

Samus Is a Girl: Alek's first meeting with Lilit, in which he assumes she is a man in a disguise.

Simultaneous Arcs: Alek and Deryn alternate usually every two chapters as the viewpoint character; sometimes they're off doing separate things, sometimes they're together. In those chapters, the main difference (since it's third person all the time) is that Deryn refers to herself as such, while Alek knows her exclusively as "Dylan." Which gets really confusing in Goliath once Alek learns "Dylan's" real identity.

Averted as of the end of the first book; Alek seems to have only comradely feelings towards "Dylan"/Deryn, although he does consider "Dylan" good-looking.. There are hints of UST on her part, however, and Alek definitely gets into this in Goliath, going so far as to kill Nikola Tesla and abdicate the throne for her by the end.

Lilit also has a thing for "him." Wordof God says she knew very well Deryn was a girl. Also, when she and Deryn meet again in Goliath, Lilit lied when she said that kissing Deryn was just curiosity; Lilit really fell in love with Deryn.

Ungrateful Bastard: Eddie Malone in Goliath. He's dead-set on publishing Deryn's real identity without regard to the fact that it will ruin her, even though she smuggled him onto the Leviathan. He even insists that Alek saving his life isn't enough to dissuade him and only relents after Alek gives him an alternate story.

The Unreveal: We never do really find out what the perspicacious loris was supposed to do.

Tranquilizer Dart: The czar sends some of these in his package, along with numerous hunks of meat, which, the Leviathan's crew members later work out, are meant to be used to hinder Tesla's hungry fighting bears while they rescue the inventor.

Translation Convention: Every conversation between Alek and his men is typed in English, though they really are speaking in German. When Deryn is narrating, though, their conversations are in German.

Unusual Pets for Unusual People: Dr. Nora Barlow, a geneticist who is personally responsible for a lot of the Organic Technology used by Britain in that alternate timeline, has a pet Thylacine named Tazza. Many people mistake him for a fabricated beast and have to be told that he's actually completely natural.

Whale Egg: The perspicacious loris is hatched from an egg and, judging from what Deryn says, many fabricated beasts are "born" this way.

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